Improvement in feathering paddle-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEIVIS T. HOIVARD, OF SMITHS MILLS, MISSISSIPPI'.

IMPROVEMENT EN FEATHEING PADDLE-WHEELS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 18,202, dated September-l5, 1857.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS T. HOWARD, of Srniths Mills, in the county of Carroll and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Featherin g Paddle-Wheels and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a face View in section of the paddle-wheel with the feathering or governing wheel in full. Fig. 2 represents a transverse vertical section taken centrally through the wheels.

Similar letters of reference, where they oc-V cur in the separate iigures, denote like parts of the wheel in both.

The nature of my invention relates to the concave or contracted hub, so as to support the paddle-Wheel centrally without allowing it to overhang its support too much and at the same time enable me to dispense with an outside bearing to the shaft, so that the feathering or governing Wheel may be hung high up above the paddle-wheel, and long levers or rods be used to connect it with the buckets of the paddle-wheel.

To enable others skilled inthe art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to disscribe the same with reference to the drawings.

A may represent a frame of any suitable kind for supporting the wheels. On this frame is placed a block B, upon which the boxes a a, that the shaft C is supported by and turns in, are supported; and on the end of th1s shaft() is hung the paddle-wheel D,so that said Wheel shall be supported thereon at about a line drawn centrally and vertically through said Wheel, as may be seen in Fig. 2.

The outside face of the wheel D may have one or more rings b, to which the arms c, starting from a common center, may be attached, this center forming a hub into which the end of the shaft C passes, and to which it is permanently attached. The inner face of the wheel D is formed With two concentric rings d e, which are united by radial arms f, and from the ringe to the hub or center g of said wheel pass a series of curved ribs or arms h,

which bring said hub at about thencenter of said wheel between its two faces, as seen in the section in Fig. 2. The block B projecting into the concavity of the hub admits of this central support, and makes the leverage of the shaft beyond its support quite short and sufficiently rigid to dispense with an outside bearing or journal to said shaft.

The buckets i t' i, the., ot the paddle-wheel are pivoted in the outer rims or rings of the wheel, so as to turn on said pivots, or featherj as it is termed.

The feathering or governing wheel is composed of two concentric rings 7a Z, to which the arms 'm are connected, said arms meeting' in a central hub n, in which a shaft E is fastened, said shaft being supported by and turning in a suitable box F, supported on the frame A in a plane vertical to the plane of the shaft C, and at considerable distance-say half of the diameter of the Wheel D-above it, so as to bring it above any obstruction that might disarrange it, such as drift, and to give longer leverage to the rods that feather the buckets. To the arms m (or to intermediate arms between them) are connected one of the ends of the rods 0, by means of bolts r, which have their solid heads next to said rods, and the shanks of said bolts passing through slots s in the ends of the rods 0, thence through the arms-m, and secured by a n ut u on the ont-A side of the rim. The object ot' the slots s is that the arms or rods o may not bind, but yield to any slight inaccuracy in the feathering of the buckets. rlhe solid head of the bolt or pivot r is placed next the rods o, so that its motion on said pivot may not effect the loosening of the nuts on said bolts or pivots, which it would d o were they next to said rods. The lower ends of the rods or levers o are respectively connected to the square parts of the shafts n, upon which the buckets are fastened, so that said buckets shall be turned on their shafts to maintain their positions, as shown in Fig. l, oi-,in other words, feather, so as to enter the water nearly vertical in position and leave it again without back-lift, or lifting the water when they leave it.

If found desirable, a-sct of arms central to the outside ones of the paddle-Wheel may be used; but this necessity could only arise when wheels of very large diameter are used, and

the faces o1l sides of the Wheels may be incased to protect the Wheels against drift-Wood or other obstructions to their free action.

vHavingthus fully described the nature and object of my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Contracting` the hub of the paddle-Wheel so 21s to dispense with an outside bearing for the purpose of enabling me to place the featheiing-Wheel outside of the paddle-Wheel and use any length of connecting arms between saidfeatheliug-Wheel and the buckets that may be deemed mosteffective, and as set forth and explained.

L. T. HOWARD.

'Vitnesses:

A. B. STOUGHTON, E. COHEN. 

